When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…

Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

Cormoran Strike is back, with his assistant Robin Ellacott, in a mystery based around soldiers returning from war.

One of the things that I love about these Cormoran Strike novels is that they always keep me guessing. I guessed who dunnit in the first one pretty quickly, but in the second and now this third installment I had no idea until the very end. I think this might be one of my favorite current series, and I just need to read a fourth book right now! I need to know how Strike's business will fair after the events of this novel, and I need to know what Robin's plans for her future are.

At this point in the series we know a lot about Robin and Strike, or so we think. Since the culprit of delivering the leg has something to do with Strike's past we get to dive a little deeper into his life. Strike is one of the most interesting characters I've read about as of late. For such a big lurking presence he shows everyone on the outside, he has a lot of inside vulnerabilities that we as the reader get to see all the time. He's a very damaged character, and in this novel we get to see more of how his childhood might have shaped that when he suspects his ex-step-father in this crime.

As for Robin, we finally get to find out why she left university, and why she has stuck with annoying Matthew for so long. And...honestly it made me hate Matthew even more! I know we are supposed to not like him, but we really get a glimpse at how he treats Robin and it really rubbed me the wrong way. I would really like for them to break up for good, but I don't necessarily want her to start dating Strike. I like them as a team, but I think Robin needs to separate herself from Matthew and be independent for a while. Working for Strike allows her to do that, even if the pay isn't that great.

I think I have said it in my previous reviews, but Robert Glenister does an amazing job narrating these novels. I think he does a great job with accents, especially in this novel where there were a lot of Scottish accents. Unlike other male narrators, I don't think his voices for female characters are too over the top. I don't think he tries to make them sound to high-pitched or girly, and I definitely appreciate that.

There is a lot that gets left unsaid at the end of the novel, so I don't know how much I can say without giving anything away. I know this can't be the last Strike novel, but it might be some time before we see him and Robin again. If you need a good detective story that keeps you on your toes I highly suggest this book series.

Have you read the latest Cormoran Strike Novel? What did you think? What do you think Robin should do?
Happy Reads Everyone!